Sir Peter Medawar
"Advice to a Young Scientist" p.39, 1979

This journal provides a medium for students to publish their research, communicate their views on topical issues, be provided with clinical and career education and develop a greater understanding of journal process and publication.

The committee of the Medical Student Journal of Australia (MSJA) proudly presents Volume 4, Issue 2. For this issue we have chosen the theme “salus mundi” which, in its Latin translation means “welfare of the world”. The MSJA has continued to grow over the past four years and for this issue, the committee has aimed to gather more submissions from around Australia particularly from the allied health domains. We have even received international submissions for the first time.

The Editorial Committee strongly upholds the philosophy of the journal, which is to encourage medical and allied health students to be involved with research early on in their careers. The journal also gives many students an opportunity to be involved with the ins and outs of the journal process itself, seeing the full process from editing, to peer reviewing, to proof reading and collating of the final product. It has certainly involved a lot of time and effort for many of the past and present committee members, but the finished accomplishment has made it all worthwhile - not to forget the interesting submissions we have read and the lessons we have learned about the journal process along the way.

The MSJA has been incredibly fortunate to have a fantastic panel of expert peer reviewers to whom we are greatly indebted. The Editorial Committee would like to extend a big thank you to all of the clinicians who took the time and effort to meticulously review these articles. It is because of you that we could put together a high quality journal with manuscripts reviewed by internationally renowned clinicians and researchers. It has been also great to see an enthusiastic response from students around Australia in contributing to the journal.

The MSJA would like to make note of our guest writers - Dr Lybus Hillman, Gastroenterologist and Senior Lecturer, Dr Nicholas Coatsworth, President of Médecins Sans Frontières Australia, and Dr Andres de Francisco, Deputy Director of the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health at the World Health Organisation. Hopefully their words will inspire you as they did us to stay true to yourself throughout your medical career, and to make use of your skills for the better welfare of people throughout Australia and the world. We hope you enjoy reading the articles and anecdotes of this issue, and that the stories and information you read may help inspire your future success.